TBI Weekly: Our top stories of 2018

It has been exactly a year to the day since Disney revealed its proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox – a landmark takeover that has, in many ways, laid the foundation for the tectonic shifts in the media landscape across 2018.

Mega-mergers such as Discovery’s acquisition of Scripps, Comcast’s Sky takeover and AT&T’s Time Warner purchase all reflect a universal desire to achieve scale quickly and smartly, with SVOD plays figuring heavily in expansion plans.

A year on from the #MeToo scandal of 2017 that saw businesses such as Amazon and Vice forced to confront workplace abuse and harassment, powerhouse female execs were put in charge of crucial turnarounds, with A+E boss Nancy Dubuc taking the reins at an embattled Vice and NBC Entertainment’s Jennifer Salke leading Amazon.

Meanwhile, Netflix maintained its monolithic position in the global market with an aggressive regional strategy that saw the business set up commissioning outposts and production hubs in key territories such as Spain and the UK, while Amazon did some serious damage control, repledging its support for broadcasters.

Elsewhere, it was tough going for niche SVOD plays – with the likes of FilmStruck and DramaFever shuttering and, more recently, Eleven Sports UK also on the brink of closure – other services such as Acorn TV and Shudder thrived, expanding into ever more territories.

And who could forget the Endemol saga, which found the Black Mirror producer on the sales block in a long-winded process, only to return to the Apollo/Disney fold, or All3Media International’s extraordinary Netflix deal for The Circle, and that headline-grabbing carriage fee dispute between Virgin Media and UKTV that highlighted the importance of a strong PR game (and well-timed Twitter video appeal) in public negotiations.

Read on for our top 20 stories of the year…

Amazon reveals subscribers’ streaming habits

The Weinstein Company files for bankruptcy

Leak lays bare Amazon Originals effect

BBC, Channel 4, ITV discuss service launch to combat Netflix

Vice confirms Dubuc will replace Smith as CEO

US pay TV revenues set for $26.6bn drop – forecast

Amazon Studios reshuffles after Salke hire

Netflix extends non-drama commissioning, adds London exec

Virgin Media to drop UKTV channels

John Stankey predicts tough year ahead for HBO

Walmart plans SVOD service to take on Netflix

Disneyflix details emerge as Disney preps for SVOD launch

Amazon “desperate” to support broadcasting landscape

Netflix squares The Circle

Banijay eyes joint bid for Endemol

Distributors: the new producers?

Brexit and broadcasting: How Brexit will impact the TV sector

Comcast boss “convincing and relatable” as details emerge of Sky takeover

Netflix: Disney will be a formidable partner

Netflix & WarnerMedia strike $100m deal for Friends

The week’s top TBI stories…

• Netflix unveils most-binged shows of 2018
• TBI Weekly: Takeaways from the UBS Media Conference
• Acorn TV expands global footprint to 30 territories
• Comcast-Sky and Disney-Fox to spend $43bn on content in 2018
• Netflix orders first African original series